THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH. Chronological notes relative to this Book. Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3484.-Year of the Julian Period, 4194.—Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3241.-Year from the Flood, 1828.-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1401.-Year since the first celebration of the Olympic games in Elis, by the Idæi Dactyli, 934.-Year since the destruction of Troy, according to the general account, 664.-Year since the foundation of the monarchy of the Israelites by the divine appointment of Saul to the regal dignity, 576.—Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 492.-Year from the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 456.-Year since the re-establishment of the Olympic games in Elis by Lycurgus, Iphitus, and Cleosthenes, 365.-Year since the conquest of Corcbus at Olympia, usually called the first Olympiad, 257.-First year of the sixty-fifth Olympiad.-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received computation, 234.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 233.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 232.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 228.— Year of the era of Nabonassar, 228.-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 202.-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 68.-Year since the destruction of the Chaldean empire by the Persians, 18.-Year before the birth of Christ, 516.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 520.-Cycle of the Sun, 22.-Cycle of the Moon, 14.-Second year of Darius I., king of Persia.-Twenty-eighth year of Amyntas, king of Macedon.-Seventh year of Demaratus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclidæ.--Eleventh year of Cleomenes, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenida.— Fifteenth year of Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of the Romans. This was about twelve years before the commencement of the consular government. According to some chronologers this was the age of Confucius. CHAPTER I. The prophet earnestly exhorts the people to repentance, that they may escape such punishments as had been inflicted on their fathers, 1-6. The vision of the horses, with the signification, 7-11. The angel of the Lord successfully intercedes in behalf of Jerusalem, 12-17. The vision of the four horns, and of the four carpenters, 18-21. Verse 1. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius] This was Darius Hystaspes; and from this date we find that Zechariah began to prophesy just two months after Haggai. readings on this name, y Iddo, and у Iddo, both in MSS. and in editions; but they are only different ways of writing the same name. Verse 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.] For their ingratitude, idolatry, iniquity, Son of Iddo] There are a number of various and general rebellion. hosts, and I will turn unto you, "unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? с 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, " Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. 7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, a 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16.- b Isai. xxxi. 6. Jer. iii. 12. xviii. 11. Ezek. xviii, 30. Hos. xiv. 1.—c Isai. Iv. 1. Or, overtake. e Lam. i. 18. ii. 17.- Josh. v. 13. Rev. Verse 3. Turn ye unto me] This shows that they had power to return, if they would but use it. And I will turn unto you] I will show you mercy and grant you salvation, if you will use the grace I have already given you. Men are lost, because they turn not unto God; but no man is lost because he had not power to return. God gives this, and he will require it. Verse 5. Your fathers, where are they?] Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans. The prophets, do they live for ever?] They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them. Verse 6. Did they not take hold of your fathers?] Every thing happened according to the predictions, and they were obliged to acknowledge this; and yet they would not turn from their evil way. Verse 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month] This revelation was given about three months after the former, and two months after they had recommenced the building of the temple. Sebat] Answers to a part of our February. See Hag. ii. 18. Verse 3. I saw by night] The time was emblematical of the affliction under which the Jews groaned. A mun] An angel in the form of a man: supposed to have been the Lord Jesus; who seems to have riding upon a red horse. A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. I. Anno Tarquinii Superbi, R. Roman., 15. 8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. 9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. i 10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees, answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. 12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had appeared often in this way, as a prelude to his incarnation; see Josh. v. 13; Ezek. i. 26; Dan. vii. 13, and x. 5. The same, probably, that appeared to Joshua with a drawn sword, as the captain of the Lord's host. Josh. v. 13-15. A red horse] An emblem of war and bloodshed. Among the myrtle trees] This tree was an emblem of peace; intimating that all war was shortly to end. But some think these trees are emblematical of the true followers of Christ. And behind him were there red horses] Probably pointing out the different orders of angels in the heavenly host, which are employed by Christ in the defence of his church. The different colours may point out the gradations in power, authority, and excellence, of the angelic natures which are employed between Christ and men. Verse 9. O my lord, what are these?] The angel here mentioned was distinct from those mentioned in the eighth verse; he who talked with the prophet, ver. 13. Verse 10. The man that stood among the myrtktrees] The Angel of the Covenant, as above, ver. 11 Whom the Lord hath sent] Who are constituted guardians of the land. Verse 11. All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.] There is general peace through the Persian empire and other states connected with Judea; but the Jews are still in affliction; their city is not yet restored, nor their temple built. Verse 12. Then the angel of the Lord] He who was among the myrtles,-the Lord Jesus. Visions of the four horns A. M. 3484. R. Roman., 15. CHAP. I. h and of the four carpenters. g indignation these threescore hosts; my cities through & pros- 13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. b 14 So the angel that communed with me. said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and 'a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 10. 1 A. M. 3484. R. Roman., 15. 18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. me, 19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20 And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. 21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land 1 17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of of Judah to scatter it. Jer. xxv. 11, 12. Dan, ix. 2. Ch. vii. 5. b Jer. xxix. - Joel viii. 18. Ch. viii. 2. d Isai. xlvii. 6. * Isai. xii. 1. Ch. ii. 10. viii. 3.- f Ch. ii. 1, 2.- - Heb. O Lord of hosts, how long] Jesus Christ was not only the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," but was always the sole Mediator and Intercessor between God and man. These threescore and ten years?] This cannot mean the duration of the captivity, for that was nearly twenty years past. It must mean simply the time that had elapsed from the destruction of the temple to the time in which the angel spoke. As the temple was destroyed in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, and this vision took place in the second year of Darius, the term of seventy years was completed, or nearly so, between these two periods. Verse 13. The Lord answered the angel] And the angel told the prophet that the answer was gracious and comfortable. This answer is given in the next verse. Verse 14. I am jealous for Jerusalem] I have for them a strong affection; and indignation against their enemies. Verse 15. I was but a little displeased] I was justly displeased with my people, and I gave their enemies a commission against them; but they carried this far beyond my design by oppression and cruelty; and now they shall suffer in their turn. Verse 16. I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies] Before, he came to them in judgments; and the principal mercy is, the house of the Lord shall be rebuilt, and the ordinances of the Lord re-established. And a line shall be stretched forth] The circuit shall be determined, and the city built according to the line narked out. Verse 17. My cities-shall yet be spread abroad] The whole land of Judea shall be inhabited, and the ruined cities restored. 1. NORTH. The Assyrians and Babylonians. 4. WEST. The Philistines. See Martin. Verse 20. Four carpenters.] Four other powers, who should defeat the powers intended by the horns. These are the same as the four chariots mentioned chap. vi. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7. The first was NABOPOLASSAR, father of Nebuchadnezzar, who overturned the empire of the Assyrians. The second was CYRUS, who destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans. The third was ALEXANDER the great, who destroyed the empire of the Persians. And the fourth was PTOLEMY, who rendered himself master of Egypt. Some of these had already been cast down; the rest were to follow. Calmet gives this interpretation, and vindicates it at length. Verse 21. These are come to fruy them] To break, pound, and reduce them to powder. Fray, from the French, frayer, to rub. charashim signifies חרשים either carpenters or smiths; probably the latter are here intended, who came with hammers, files, and such like, to destroy these horns, which no doubt seemed to be of iron. From a sensible correspondent I have received the following note: "The word we translate carpenters, own charashim, is a root which, according to Mr. Parkhurst, denotes silent thought or attention; and in kal and hiphil, to contrive, devise secretly, or in silence; hence Verse 18. And behold four horns.] Denoting four applied as a noun to an artificer of any kind, and to to potters'-ware, Lev. vi. 28; Job ii. 8; and in many other places. So also to ploughing, Deut. xxii. 10, Prov. xx. 4, which requires constant attention to make 'the right-lined furrow.' Let it be remembered that in ancient times such works were more esteemed than the useless ones we have learned to admire. So again, in Gen. xxiv. 21 and elsewhere, it implies to be silent, as in deep thought or great attention. measuring line in his hand. any work which disposes to silent attention. Thus, own charashim here, watchers or inspectors, in the sense which our translators have rendered the Chaldee y ir, a watcher, in the fourth chapter of Daniel, ver. 13; understanding thereby spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth,' Zech. vi. 5, and are described in the first vision as 'sent to walk to and fro through the earth.' This gives to the whole narrative a sublime and important sense, affording us some glimpse of the divine government by the ministration of angels, such as Jacob was favoured with in his vision at Beth-el, and which our Saviour himself informed Nathanael constituted part of the glory of his mediatorial kingdom." M. A. B. "Now it is evident that the purport of this vision is the same with the gracious declarations which precede it, viz., to express the return of the protecting mercies of God to his people, delivering them from their enemies. I should therefore be inclined to render CHAPTER II. The vision with which this chapter opens portended great increase and prosperity to Jeru salem. Accordingly Josephus tells us (Wars V. iv. 2), that "the city, overflowing with inhabitants, extended beyond its walls," as predicted in the fourth verse, and acquired much glory during the time of the Maccabees; although these promises, and particularly the sublime image in the fifth verse, has certainly a still more pointed reference to the glory and prosperity of the Christian church in the latter days, 1-5. See Rev. xxi.,xxii. la consequence of these promises, the Jews, still inhabiting Babylon and the regions round about, are called upon to hasten home, that they might not be involved in the fate of their enemies, who were destined to fall a prey to the nations which they had formerly subdued; God's great love and zeal for his people moving him to glorify them by humbling all their adversaries, 6-9. The most gracious promises of God's presence with his church, and her consequent increase and prosperity, set forth in the remaining verses, 10-13, were to a certain extent fulfilled in the great number of proselytes made to Judaism after the return from the captivity; but shall be more fully accomplished after the restoration of the Jews to the favour of God under the gospel. "For if the casting away of the natural Israel be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?" 4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this heaven, saith the LORD. a Ezek. xl. 3.- b Rev. xi. 1. xxi. 15, 16.- Jer. xxxi. 27. Ezek. xxxvi. 10, 11.—d Isai. xxvi. 1. Ch. ix. 8. e Isai. lx. 19. Rev. xxi. 23.---f Isai. xlviii. 20. lii. 11. Jer. i. 14. 1. 8. li. 6, 45.- -g Deut. xxviii, 64. Ezek. xvii. 21. As towns without walls] It shall be so numerously inhabited as not to be contained within its ancient limits. Josephus, speaking of this time, says, WAR degrees extended itself beyond its walls." Verse 5. I-will be unto her a wall of fire] Her safety shall consist in my defence. I shall be as fire round about her; no adversary shall be permitted to touch her. Much of this must refer to the New Jerusalem. 9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. after their return from Babylon. for, lo, I come, and I will A. M. cir. 3485. B. C. cir. 519. Ol. cir. LXV. 2. Tarquinii Superbi, R. Rom., cir. annum 16. 11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and " shall choose Jerusalem again. m 13" Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: 10 Sing, and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. e a Rev. xviii. 4.- -b Deut. xxxii. 10. Ps. xvii. 8. Ezek. xxxvii. 27. Thess. i. 6.- e Isai. xi. 15. xix. 16.- d Ch. iv. 9.- e Isai. - Isai. ii. 2, 3. h Ch. iii. 10. Verse 6. Flee from the land of the north] From Chaldea, Persia, and Babylon, where several of the Jews still remained. See ver. 7. Verse 8. After the glory] After your glorious deliverance from the different places of your dispersion; He hath sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, that they may fall under grievous calamities, and be punished in their turn. On Babylon a great calamity fell, when besieged and taken by the Persians. The following note I received from a sensible and pious correspondent:- 5. "For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. 8. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, who hath sent me, the future glory (or the glory which is to come) unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. "If in the eighth verse may be rendered the future, or the glory that is to come, it will harmonize with the context as a prophecy of the Messiah, whereas in our English translation the words after the glory are unintelligible. And so the Seventy. "It is evident the person speaking is distinguished from the Lord of hosts, as being sent by him; yet this person sent is also called Jehovah; and the nations who shall be joined to Jehovah in that day are called his people; and he (the person sent) will dwell in the midst of thee (i. e., Zion), and shall inherit Judah his portion, &c. Exod. xii. 49.- k Ezek. xxxiii. 33. Ver. 9.- - Deut. xxxii. 9. Ch. i. 17. - Hab. ii. 20. Zeph. i. 7. • Ps. lxviii. 5. Isai, lvii. 15.- P Heb. the habitation of his holiness. Deut. xxvi. 15. Isai. lxiii. 15. I think Exod. xxxiii. may be compared with it. Moses besought God that he would show him his glory; upon which it was said to him, 'Whilst my glory passeth by,' I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand whilst I pass by; and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my achar. Now as this was a fulfilment of Moses's request, who intreated to behold the glory, it follows that this was the divine glory which alone he was capable of seeing. "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.' ” Toucheth the apple of his eye.] M. A. B. bebabath בבבת עינו eyno, the babet of his eye. This is a remarkable exanother, will see his own image perfectly expressed, pression. Any person, by looking into the eye of though in extreme miniature, in the pupil. Does our English word babbet or baby come from this? God is ever on his follower, and that his person is And does not the expression mean that the eye of ever impressed on the eye, the notice, attention, providence, and mercy of God? Verse 9. I will shake mine hand upon them] I will threaten first, and then stretch out my hand of judgment against them. A spoil to their servants] To those whom they had formerly subjected to their sway. As the Babylonians to the Medes and Persians; and so of the rest in the subversion of empires. Verse 10. I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord] This must chiefly refer to the Christian church, in which God ever dwells by the power of his Spirit, as he had done by the symbol of his presence in the first Jewish temple. Verse 11. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord] This most certainly belongs to the Christian church. No nation or people ever became converts to the Jewish religion; but whole nations have embraced "In confirmation of my view of the eighth verse, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. |